While I’m waiting to finish up the fuel system, next little task was to cobble together the linkage for the GN tv cable. I started by removing the throttle bracket from a mid/late 80s 3800 front wheel drive throttle body. Here’s a fun fact: this is the same throttle body casting as an 86-87 turbo regal, but it’s missing throttle shaft seals, and one of the coolant ports is angled different. The bracket is also different than a turbo regal, so it was easy for me to sacrifice. I cut the studded end of the bracket directly above the pivot point. Next, I took a 5/16” bolt and ground the threads flat on both sides. Now, the cut throttle bracket slides right on the bolt. Next, I welded the head side of the bolt to the throttle shaft on the carb. Using 2 nuts, the bracket bolts on and I can adjust it to line up the cable. I made the housing bracket for the cable out of an old fender bottom bracket from a regal. It’s ugly, but it works. I said earlier in this build, I have no idea if this trans is going to be any good, and I have the 4 speed stuff on standby. I didn’t want to reinvent the wheel here. Just wanted it to function. Last thing. The return spring bracket doesn’t fit on the B4B manifold. I welded a 3/8” bolt to the intake manifold bolt to raise it up to the point it would clear.
Always loved the look of black steelies and poverty caps. Sits a bit too high in the rear for my taste, but I’m hoping it’ll settle a little bit as I add more parts.
Progress: Todd’s fuel sender wire showed up. I installed it on the sender, then put the tank in the car. Went in nice and easy. Next to go on was the rear sway bar and rear shocks. This car didn’t originally have rear bar, but I think they all should have one. This one was bought at a swap meet years ago for this car. These kyb’s were pulled out of the regal parts stash, which I’ve used frequently. Finally, for now, I needed to tackle the metal brake lines on the rear end. The old lines twisted like a pretzel on all ends as soon as the nuts broke loose, as I figured they would. One more go around with the tubing bender. I didn’t have any new flare nuts this size, so I salvaged these off the original lines. I bent the lines fairly close to the originals, and I think they came out pretty decent.
Just finished a similar build , we call it a “junkrod” lol !! Keep up good work , looks great ! So nice when you don’t have to be on eggshells like if around a freshly restored body !
Way cool, Steve!!! Lots of similarities. I’m probably gonna end up with a Holley, also, as this qjet rebuild isn’t working out too well.
Awesome build and great work on it! My 71 Camaro is a daily I built but left the body weathered/ratty. It makes it a lot easier not to ant to off some one when they get too close or the kids run their hands down the side of it. A few years ago I was going to do this similar build on my 68 GS. I was going to get my 455 running as cheap as I could. Replace all the brake lines and fuel lines and just get the car to drive. Well, when I aired up the tires and was getting ready to move it out I saw the front of the frame is rusted through under the cowl too. That was the end of those thoughts. I'll just wait and fix it right but there is a long list ahead of it unfortunately.
Trying to stay true to a roadkill build, my original plan was to simply cover the hvac hole in the firewall with a piece of sheet metal. After thinking about it, I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I want to rack the miles up on it, and having working heat is an essential. So, after spending a couple of days searching Fb marketplace, I found a solid non a/c heater box, and the guy was actually willing to ship it. My original was rotted bad and packed full of mouse nests. The new heater core was bought from summit, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was at least built on this continent. After blowing the dust out of the “new to me” box, I swapped over the little control brackets, installed the heater core, and started the install. What a pain in the a$$ when there’s no help. It’s now mostly done, and the original blower motor still works. I forgot to hook up the cable that operates the floor vent before everything got cinched down. Doesn’t look like it’ll be easy to get to now, so I’ll tackle that later, or not at all.
Man, that original box was rusty! Definitely the worst job on these cars, especially with one person. Imagine if the whole front clip was still attached?
It’s no different than the rest of the car. The more I slam it together, the better I feel about going down this path with it. Wait till you see the dash. I’m not sure there’s enough of it to attach a glove box door.
Finished up the night by adding the core support. Pretty uneventful, other than spending an hour finding suitable hardware and the bushings.
I promise to try. Haha. 10 years ago, this entire project would have taken 2 weeks from start to finish. I just don’t work as fast as I used to.
Yup, I’m making steady progress now. I’d love to have the front clip on by New Years. A couple things need to happen for that to work out, and I’m hoping a better carburetor materializes.
This deck lid was from the same 70 GS 455 as the frame. After looking it over, it’s actually not bad, even though it sat in the elements for the 10 years I’ve owned it. The last thing I care about is matching colors, but this one has the holes for the chrome trim, and doesn’t have the holes for the “by Buick” emblem that the 71 lid had. This came from a desert gold car, and my car is cornet gold. You can see a big difference if you look at it in person.
Mounting the radiator and making transmission lines will be next. Trying to hold off on the front sheet metal until I find a carburetor, but we’ll see how that goes.
